JGB enters consumer field

By Norman Poltenson,
Journal Staff /
Central New York Business Journal

JGB Enterprises employees work on different products. The company manufactures the
trademark “Tuff-Guard,” also known as the “Perfect Garden Hose” or the “Perfect Water
Hose.”

SALINA — It’s hard to get excited about a garden
hose. Unless you are Jay Bernhardt.

Bernhardt is a serial entrepreneur who
created JGB Enterprises, Inc. (JGB), a Salina–
based company which, for more than three
decades, has supplied hundreds of different
styles of industrial, hydraulic, and braided metal
hose and fittings for commercial and
Department of Defense uses.

Bernhardt’s interest in garden hoses was a
reaction to his own experience identifying the
defects found in the products he purchased:
They were all flimsy, inflexible, prone to developing
kinks, not durable, and too heavy. “[I]
always thought I could make a better hose,”
says Bernhardt.

Today, JGB handles on average 300,000
linear feet of garden hose per month under the
trademark “Tuff-Guard,” also known as the
“Perfect Garden Hose” or the “Perfect Water
Hose.” The product comes in four standard
lengths with a helix (a spiral form) wrap to prevent
crushing and kinks.

The precision-flow
brass fittings are crush-resistant and the hose
operates in temperatures ranging from minus
20 degrees F to 158 degrees F. The Perfect
Garden Hose comes in six different colors,
weighs 35 percent to 50 percent less than
conventional hoses, and comes with a lifetime
guarantee. A 50-foot version lists for $40.

Bernhardt’s saga into the consumer market
began five years ago when he put up $50,000
for a matching grant. JGB and Syracuse
University worked together for a year on the
grant to prove that it was possible to put a helix
on the outside of a hose, despite problems with
heat, pressure, and glues. Conventional hose-making
was inadequate, so Bernhardt turned
next to ducting as a technique and eventually
drew on his experience with fire hoses.

JGB then turned to Continental ContiTech for help in
manufacturing the perfect hose. The giant
rubber company already had a consumer
product called “Kinkguard,” which Bernhardt
quickly discovered was prone to cracking.
“Continental ContiTech finally recognized the problem, but
only after numerous product failures in the
field,” says Bernhardt.

On Jan. 1, 2011, JGB and Continental ContiTech inked a
two-year agreement to be partners. Continental ContiTech
will manufacture a specified volume of hose
for JGB to sell via e-commerce, “small-box
distributors” like Ace Hardware, exhibits, and
catalogs. Continental ContiTech, which sold off its manufacturing
arm — Veyance Technologies — to
The Carlyle Group, will sell the product to
“big-box retailers” as well as to JGB. At the end
of the agreement, JGB will decide whether to
“manufacture” the product itself or continue to
distribute it as well as receive royalties.

Since this is the first foray by JGB into the
consumer market, the company is scrambling
to set up sales channels for all of North
America. Bernhardt has set up a five-person
team to drive sales to a market that generates
$295 million annually. The team consists of
Josh DeFino, general manager; John Snyder,
Internet sales manager; Mark Consroe, national
inside sales manager, Jim Thayer, retail
expert; and Guy Zipp, engineer.

Bernhardt grew up in Richfield Springs and
graduated from SUNY Oneonta in 1966 with a
degree in business. “My mother told me to go
West,” says Bernhardt, who headed for Los
Angeles “… with seven cents [in his pocket],
a gas credit card, and an old car.” He worked
for two years as an inside salesman for a rubber
company before joining Goodall Rubber,
which was opening a branch in Syracuse.
Bernhardt spent seven years at Goodall, acquiring
experience in the distribution of rubber
products, before deciding to open his own
business in January 1977. Sales the first year
reached $300,000, the second year peaked at
$600,000, and by the end of year three topped
$1 million.

Thirty-one years later, sales at JGB will
register $100 million of which 60 percent to 80
percent typically comes through Department
of Defense purchases. The company currently
employs 200 and occupies more than
200,000 square feet of office, manufacturing,
and warehouse space that Bernhardt owns.
The company also leases space locally and in
Buffalo, Charlotte, and St. Louis. Bernhardt
owns several other entities as well, including
JGB Properties, Inc.; Key Firehose, Inc.;
Hotel Clarence; Liquid Trans, Inc.; Precisions
Systems Manufacturing, Inc.; and The Red
Mill Inn. The non-JGB companies collectively
generate another $50 million in revenue and
employ 100.

Bernhardt and his team recognize that entry
into the consumer market requires a longterm
commitment and the need to restructure
the company’s sales effort. Bernhardt says
he’s up to the challenge.

JGB Enterprises is based at 115
Metropolitan Park Drive, near Henry Clay
Blvd., in Salina.